Hosted system monitoring service

• US 20080298568A1
• Filed: 05/30/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Karandikar, Anirudha S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,246 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/114.03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing a system monitoring service to customers. The method may include identifying a new customer based on data received from a reseller, storing data pertaining to this customer in a database, and registering the customer with a system monitoring service. The method may further include tracking the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer, calculating a fee for the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer over a predefined time interval, and then generating a bill for the calculated fee that covers the predefined time interval, where interactions between the customer and the reseller terminate once the customer is registered with the system monitoring service.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving data pertaining to a new customer from a reseller;

storing the data pertaining to the customer in a database;

registering the customer with a system monitoring service;

tracking a usage of the system monitoring service by the customer;

calculating a fee for the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer over a predefined time interval; and

generating a bill for the calculated fee covering the predefined time interval,

wherein interactions between the customer and the reseller terminate once the customer is registered with the system monitoring service.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the system monitoring service is a hosted service accessible to a user via a website.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the customer is an organization;

the data pertaining to the customer comprises information concerning a plurality of information technology (IT) assets of the organization; and

the user is a system administrator within the organization.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the plurality of IT assets comprises one or more of platforms, applications, devices, or web sites.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein:

the data pertaining to the customer identifies a service level agreement of the customer; and

the system monitoring service provides monitoring of the plurality of IT assets according to the service level agreement.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the system monitoring service provides alert notifications and/or reports to the customer based on the monitoring.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the predefined time interval comprises one month; and

the fee is generated on a monthly basis.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving data identifying a service level contract signed by the new customer from the reseller.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

calculating commission to be paid to the reseller for the predefined time period based on the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer over the predefined time interval or based on a payment received from the customer for the predefined time period.

10. A machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising:

receiving data pertaining to a new customer from a reseller;

storing the data pertaining to the customer in a database;

registering the customer with a system monitoring service;

tracking a usage of the system monitoring service by the customer;

calculating a fee for the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer over a predefined time interval; and

generating a bill for the calculated fee covering the predefined time interval,

wherein interactions between the customer and the reseller terminate once the customer is registered with the system monitoring service.

11. The machine-accessible medium of claim 10 wherein the system monitoring service is a hosted service accessible to a user via a website.

12. The machine-accessible medium of claim 10 wherein:

the customer is an organization;

the data pertaining to the customer comprises information concerning a plurality of information technology (IT) assets of the organization; and

the user is a system administrator within the organization.

13. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 wherein:

the data pertaining to the customer identifies a service level agreement of the customer; and

the system monitoring service provides monitoring of the plurality of IT assets according to the service level agreement.

14. The machine-accessible medium of claim 10 wherein the method further comprises:

calculating commission to be paid to the reseller for the predefined time period based on the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer over the predefined time interval or based on a payment received from the customer for the predefined time period.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a customer registration module to receive data pertaining to a customer from a reseller, and to register the customer with a system monitoring service;

a database, coupled to the customer registration module, to store the data pertaining to the customer;

a usage tracking module, coupled to the database, to track a usage of the system monitoring service by the customer; and

a billing module, coupled to the usage tracking module, to calculate a fee for the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer over a predefined time interval, and to generate a bill for the calculated fee covering the predefined time interval,

wherein interactions between the customer and the reseller terminate once the customer is registered with the system monitoring service.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the system monitoring service is a hosted service accessible to a user via a website.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising:

a monitoring module, coupled to the database, to provide monitoring of a plurality of information technology (IT) assets, and to provide alert notifications and/or reports to the customer based on the monitoring.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising a reseller commission module to calculate commission to be paid to the reseller for the predefined time period

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the reseller commission module is to calculate the commission based on the usage of the system monitoring service by the customer over the predefined time interval.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the reseller commission module is to calculate the commission based on a payment received from the customer for the predefined time period.